Lionel Messi has attacked Barca’s hierarchy for putting pressure on the players after the team agreed to take a 70 per cent wage cut during the coronavirus crisis.
Players at Camp Nou have agreed to reduce their salaries in order for the club’s non-playing staff to continue earning their full wage while sporting activities is postponed due to Covid-19.
In his statement on Instagram, Messi said that ‘the time has come to announce that, as well as the 70% reduction in our salaries during the state of alarm, we are going to make contributions too so that club employees can receive 100% of their salaries while this situation lasts’.
But the Argentine also attacked the club’s hierarchy for putting the players ‘under the magnifying glass’ in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and has blamed the club for the delay in the announcement.
Messi wrote: ‘Much has been written and said about the Barcelona first team in regards to the salaries of the players during this period of State of Alarm.
‘First of all, we want to clarify that our will has always been to apply a drop in the salary we receive, because we fully understand that this is an exceptional situation and we are the first ones who have ALWAYS helped the club when asked.
‘Even many times we have also done this on our own initiative, at other times when we thought it was necessary or important.
‘Therefore, it does not cease to surprise us that from within the club there were those who tried to put us under the magnifying glass and tried to add pressure to do something that we always knew we would do.
‘In fact, if the agreement has been delayed for a few days it is simply because we were looking for a formula to help the club and also its workers in these difficult times.’
